MSP430 Microcontroller Basics

Despite being somewhat dated (2008), this is really a fantastic book on the MSP430. I cannot recommend it enough. I come from an EE background, but haven’t worked with micros in 20 years. I read the TI datasheet and user manual for the MSP430 available on their website, and watched some of their online videos. But I found myself frequently drowning in too many details, un-introduced topics or features, and esoteric device quirks. This book covers the MSP430 at a slightly higher level of abstraction than the datasheets and user manual. The book introduces concepts one by one in a way that makes sense. It dives into details slowly, and only after introducing you to enough high level concepts (and sometimes device quirks) that those finer details make sense. Some of the later chapters on ADC, sigma delta converters, etc. may be too complex for the beginner, or too simplistic for an expert, but I felt appropriate for someone with a 1+ year background in electronics like myself. Again, a fantastic book for the MSP430, and a great book for learning microcontroller concepts in general. Get it!

This is just the book to read if you are somewhat familiar with digital electronics and microprocessors and want to get moving quickly in programming a TI MSP430. While it is pretty thick, it covers all the capabilities of a 430 in just the right level of detail for someone with some digital logic experience and a cursory understanding of assembly language.Pro: chapters are organized by topic with lots of examples; covers both C and assembly language; written at just the right level for someone to get started with a 430; explains what's going on in assembly to help understand what C will do; lots of details about real-world interface examples such as driving an LCD (harder than one thinks); this is the book TI has in their booth at trade showsCons: a little too much focus on assembly as a target language; some topics get introduced in a chapter before the chapter dedicated to them, which leads to more hopping around in the book than I care forIf you buy only one book on the 430, this one would be money well spent.

The book is excellent. The electronic format sucks.Keeping in mind this is a reference book:1. The index of my book has no page numbers or links to the content, rendering it of no use. It consists literally of text, nothing else.2. References to page numbers in the text have no links, rendering these also useless.3. There are no page numbers (no rendering as a page). This is a book without pages. Strange, and the "location" marker is of absolutely no use.4. There is no search feature. If it existed, then I could at least search for the text that I wish to find.5. I paid almost $50 for a reference book without a means of finding the contents within it.

This book is a great value if you like to have a print reference for a lot of general embedded c programming concepts. I bought this initially to take full advantage of my msp430 dev board but never got a chance since I started an embedded project at work using microchip PIC products.For someone that has only done some assembly programming, this book has been a great reference for learning the C tricks to that enable fast and readable programming, such as bit fields in C. This book also has great theory on a lot of embedded technologies, such as memory architectures and ADC's.I definitely recommend this book for the beginner to intermediate embedded developer.

If I were to teach a college course on microcontrollers, I would probably use this book. It is quite thick and full of detailed information. If you are looking for a basic beginner intro on how to use your MSP430 then I would look for a more basic book. This book goes into detail on the CPU and memory architecture, C programming, Assembly programming, and more. It does assume a very basic former knowledge of electronics and programming. It includes example programs you can try. I am learning a lot reading this book.

I bought this book in "used" condition for my microcontroller class. I found it to be really helpful with good explanations, and it provided many example code to help explain implementation. Would recommend.

Excellent.This book is a solid, clean resource for learning about the TI MSP430 microcontroller. I am impressed with the full coverage of topics that are glossed over in other '430 books. This book bundles together a lot of practical information gleaned from a wide span of TI data sheets and app notes and does so in a way that makes very good sense. EVERYTHING that I see as a MSP430 feature is explained, and explained well.This should be the definitive starting purchase for any embedded developer wishing to master the TI MSP430 microcontroller.

This book is so readable, understandable, and enjoyable that as I sat down to begin learning about the MSP430, I ended up reading the book like a novel. The conversational, straightforward style makes a perfect book for self-education. I do recommend obtaining an MSP430 kit from TI so that you can immediately begin programming through the examples. If you get the text and start reading, you won't be able to wait!Kudos to the author. Absolutely excellent job!

TI MSP430シリーズ CPUで組み込みプログラムを開発をするなら、座右に置きたい本です。各ペリフェラルの説明とCで書かれたサンプルプログラムが各章毎にわかりよくまとめられています。デジタルI/O、タイマー、A/D,D/A、SPI,I2C,USARTといった具合です。サンプルプログラムの書式もペリフェラルを操作する方法として明解かつ正確で手本となります。付録としてIAR IDEを使った評価ボードのデバッグが載っています。Cをちゃんと書ける方なら組み込みが初めてでもこなせるようになるよう書かれていますし、組み込みの経験者にはI/Oのリファレンスとして役に立つでしょう。ちょっと残念なのはRTOSについて詳しく具体的に触れられていないことです。IARの項を削ってでも書き添えて欲しかった。それでもこのボリュームと内容でこの価格はお買い得です。英語ですが大変わかり易い文で綴られているので中学校レベルで読めるし、今後技術マニュアルを読むトレーニングとしても適当でしょう。是非チャレンジしてみてください。

The code examples are written for a specific MSP430 Microcontroller and use functions that are not available on all platforms. The code snippets are not well commented and leave out notes indicating that functions have been moved to other files and called separately. This guide is more for an intermediate or higher user as a person learning the code will do better with clearer examples to compare their code with.

The MSP430 is a range of microcontrollers from Texas Instruments(TI). They are not that well known in the hobby or maker communities here in the UK, where, Arduino, AVR and PIC systems dominate. However with introduction of the Launchpad starter board TI started to address this. At the time of writing this board is the least expensive to get started with micro controllers for the curious amateur.John's book is a great introduction to the subject. It takes the reader from the basic through to the advanced uses of the '430 range. There are plenty of examples in "C" and Assembler, he deals with interfacing the chip with peripherals, such as LEDs, LCD displays and so on. He writes with clarity, the information is clearly laid out and logically presented. To get the best from the book you will need a reasonable knowledge of the C programming language, some knowledge of solid state electronics, and some algebra. As John teaches at university I suspect the book is aimed at undergraduates. However don't let this put you off. I am a 60 year old amateur electronics enthusiast and I found it fine. One of the nice things about the book is that it does not dumb down the subject. Nor does it make it overly complicated.So, why only 4 stars? The book was published in 2008, well before Ti produced the Launchpad board and the latest chips. So arguably it needs to be brought up to date. Apart from that it's great and I am glad I spent the money.

Great book. I programmed various systems for 40+ years and this book has enabled me to quickly grasp how to use micro-controllers, in particular the TI MSP430. The author's approach is very logical, going chapter by chapter through the various peripherals, increasing your feel for how registers/bits get named, for instance. For that same reason I use it as reference book quickly pulling out the next section I need for my projects. Great code examples (C and asm). Just can't go wrong with it.Only qualm is I feel he spent too long on the section on digital I/O, a lot of which was not MSP430-related, and would be known by most readers already. But its still useful stuff and its better in there than not. A bit too heavy on ADC theory also.If the author updated the book to include information on using the current TI Launchpad boards It would be, beyond question the one and only book anyone would ever need to learn MSP430. I love it.

Dr Davies appears to have done a very good job: I look forward to going through the book